Lost, yet Found by Fire
by GreyLoki
Summary: Ticket to Life prequel: Bryce wasn't always unhinged, but what made him that way? What truth did he learn, and at what cost? Walk through the flames with him to find out, or are you afraid to get burned?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, I am Loki. Of GreyLoki.**

**I give the stories a somber tone when necessary.**

**Grey gives the comedic spin each one has.**

**We're both apart of the same person, but we're like different personalities.**

**I was tasked with giving backstories to Bryce Willex and Eduardo Perros of Ticket to Life.**

**This story is the backstory of Bryce. I feel conflicted about whether or not I want you to enjoy this mini-series because, as I have said, I bring a sombre tone to these stories.**

**Well... enjoy...**

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Normal… What does it mean to be normal? Is it to follow the crowd and to never deviate off the beaten path? Is it to believe that those that don't are crazy or off balanced mentally?

Is it normal for a kid to be curious about things that are considered dangerous? For them to try and experience said dangers? The child psychiatrist my dad took me to once said that it is perfectly normal for kids, but those experiences can have a negative effect on them.

So I asked him; If following the norm or staying on the path can lead to someone becoming "strange," why stay on it in the first place?

I had followed the crowd at an younger age, and now I was looked at as if I was strange.

My names Bryce Willex. And I was once normal.

I was born into an extremely small family, just my mom, dad, and I. I wasn't even 2 when my mom had left us. Not sure how yet, my dad doesn't like talking about it. The pictures I have of her show her as a pretty rainbow lady. She was on the short side, but dad said her kindness was 10 times bigger. In those pictures she looked so happy to be around my dad and I.

I wonder what my life would be like if she was still around.

My dad is Fox-man with crimson-red fur and in the pictures his eyes showed a gentle disposition, it seemed that I was a mini copy of him back then. Now, however, my dad has become hardened by something. He's still gentle at heart, but his outer demeanor seemed a little rough to people who didn't know him. That is how I've seen my dad ever since I could remember.

Things were very different back then.

When I was younger I had so many friends. By 2nd grade I had a lot of "secret" admirers. I had been doing so well in school, top of my grade, honor roll. Never once got into a fight, or into big trouble; of course I did get into a little trouble, but who didn't as kid?

I will never forget the event that ruined my life, but saved my mind.

"Wake-up Bryce," I hear my dad whisper into my ear. I feel him gently nudging me awake. I open my eyes to see him, he had grown a soul patch and was dressed for work at the office.

I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes, "Morning dad."

"It's your first day of 3rd grade," he says warmly, "are you excited?"

I have a big smile on my face and say, "Yeah!"

My dad pats the top of head and tells me to get ready. As he leaves the room I get out of my bed and prepare for the day. I put on the clothes I picked out last night; white sneakers, a pair of blue jeans and a purple t-shirt that had a design of a group of yellow baby chicks with orange one in the middle. The caption on the shirt said "One of a Kind."

I begin to pack my backpack with the supplies my dad got for the school year. As I did I find a small chrome skull keychain. I remember that I secretly bought it from Fierce Theme when I got separated from dad in the mall. There was just something about it that drew my attention. It felt like something I have always wanted, but never knew until I saw it.

I put the keychain in my pocket and finish packing for school.

"Alright Bryce!" I heard my dad call, "come get some breakfast. Your bus will be here in an hour."

I take my backpack and go to the kitchen. Dad made us a couple of bowls of oatmeal. I didn't really like oatmeal, but dad once said that it was better for me than cereal. As we ate dad asked if I remember when we were supposed to go camping.

"We're supposed to go the first three-day weekend I have," I tell him. I was so excited to go camping.

"Ah, that's right," he said with a chuckle, "and unlike last time, I have some vacation days to use for it."

"Yes," I quietly exclaimed. My dad had told me stories of when he and mom went camping. All the fun and difficult times they had doing so. I felt like going camping would make me get one step closer to mom.

After finishing up my oatmeal I heard the bus coming up the street. I rushed myself out the door and to the bus stop ready for what the day had in store for me.

At least... I thought I was.

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**Please leave a review or critique.**

**I hope you'll respect Bryce enough to hear the rest of his tale.**

**Tragedy approaches the young fox.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, this chapter took awhile.**

**I don't feel proud of it either. It is, however, necessary.**

**Give me your feedback through Reviews/Critiques or PMs.**

**Enjoy...**

***Sigh***

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*Screee…*

The bus came to a stop in front my house. The doors open with a slight whoosh.

"Mornin' lil dude," the puppet man bus driver greeted.

"Mornin' Mr. Robinson," I reply.

"Aww c'mon, how many times do I have to tell ya lil dudes and dudettes? Just call me Rocky."

"Ok… Mr. Robinson," I taunt. He just laughs it off and tells me to go pick a seat.

My bus stop at the corner of the street is usually the first stop for the bus, so I can choose to sit anywhere, other than the driver's seat. I choose seat two rows behind Rocky. My time on this bus ride was like all the others before; long, nice and slowly shifting from quiet to rowdy as more kids were picked up.

"Morning Rachel" said some random girl behind me. The one she called waves back as she walks through the aisle. Rachel Wilson, the rainbow girl, is someone I'd always see, since we were in the same class since starting kindergarten. She looked a little like my mom so I thought we might be related, but our dads explained that we weren't.

"Hey Bryce," she said as she reaches my seat, "How was your summer?"

"It was good, yours?"

She has a friendly smile as she sits next to me, "Oh I had a blast! We went Daisyland last week. It was SO fun…"

She proceeds to illustrate her summer vacation through words as I sit and listen I notice that when she talks about her younger brother her eyes light up. She loves him so much.

_'__It must be nice, having a brother?' _I think to myself without noticing I was mumbling.

"Huh?" Rachel says, "Did you say something?"

"Oh uh... no… sorry, please continue."

As she continued to speak I began to look at her with slight resentment. She had a complete family; a dad, mom, and even a sibling. Me, I only had dad. I knew how I felt and hid my resentment through a smile, as to seem alright and pleasant.

~Pang~ I felt a faint throbbing pain in head, as I have been for a while.

The pain took my attention from Rachel when I notice that someone else got on the bus. A raccoon girl wearing a dark blue sundress, holding a stuffed Daisy the Donkey doll came walking down the aisle. She seemed distant, which helped me recognize her.

"Hey, Mira," I say to the raccoon girl as she walks by, but she averts her eyes from me and Rachel. She continues down the aisle until she finds an empty seat at the back.

"Well," Rachel started, "that was rude. Why are you nice to her?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" I respond, "There's no bad outcome for being nice to someone."

"What if she doesn't like you?" She asked me with a serious look on her face.

"Well… that's alright." I answer, "It doesn't matter if someone likes me or not, I will be civil."

"Civil?"

"My dad taught me that word. It means to be courteous or nice, whether or not you dislike someone."

"Why?"

"Well, if everyone didn't like each other and we acted like that, I think life would be bad for everyone."

Soon after that the bus was school-bound, some of us raring to learn for another year while others were… unenthusiastic about it. Me… I wanted to learn, but it didn't feel like I liked it.

Mrs. Rhombus, the trapezoidal teacher, is my teacher this year and she seemed pretty nice. The beginning of our time in the class started with introducing ourselves to the class.

I made note of a few of my classmates. First was Bomb Kid; he had a monochrome look and his head was in the shape of those ol' timey bombs. As he was introducing himself a kid interrupted him and his fuse lit itself and if it wasn't for Mrs. Rhombus he would have exploded.

Jared Dawson, a pretty chill puppet kid. He didn't say too much about himself, but from what he did say I gathered that he kept to the background a lot.

Next up was Rat, he seemed a little aggressive. Small twitches here and there and he seemed ready to fight someone, anyone.

A girl named Jamie, a troglodyte cow girl. At first I thought she was a boy, but when someone said 'He looks funny' she attacked him… savagely. I knew not to anger her from that point on. Even, Mrs. Rhombus showed some fear when she told her, later suggested, that she go up to the Principal's office.

Hot Dog Kid, another self-explanatory name. For the most part it seemed like he was jamming out in his head.

Mira Flechion, her sour attitude from the time on the bus was gone. She seemed a bit more lax and had a slight spark that seemed to draw in some people.

And lastly, me and Rachel Wilson. Of course there are others in the class, but these are the ones who stuck out to me. I don't know why, but I felt that these people would be the ones who'd impact my year.

After everyone introduced themselves we got to choose where to sit in the class. After we that we began our lessons. I didn't pay a lot of attention, but I make it look as though I am as I look around the class at everyone. Jake, Mira, and Hot Dog Kid sat across from each other at their Island, 4 desks put together, with another classmate. They seemed to get along quickly.

Bomb Kid had Rat sit next to him, along with two other. I could already tell that they would likely cause problems together. At my Island was me with Rachel next to me, Jamie across from her; when she returned; with the kid she attacked sitting next to her; the poor fella.

"You're smaller than I thought," Rachel whispered to Jamie.

"You got a problem with that?" Jamie quietly replied with a hint of animalistic rage emanating from her.

"Not really," Rachel continued, "Just thinking out loud. How old are you?"

"None of yer business!" she answered through gritted teeth.

"Well, excuse me, I was just trying to make conversation."

"I don't know what that is, but I don't want to make it with you."

"Well," I say to the kid across from me, "at least today starts off interesting, eh?"

"Speak for yourself," I hear him mumble, "I'd like it to be quiet… and less painful."

"What'd you say!?" Jamie growled lowly.

I answer for him, "It wasn't anyth…"

"Didn't ask you, did I?" She snapped at me.

~Pang~ "No, you didn't" I say through a slight faux smile. The throbbing returned for a while accompanied by a warmth enveloping across my face.

I already want school to end. I slink my hand into my pocket and fiddle with my skull keychain.

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*I guess the first day got off to a rocky start*

*It gets worse. Trust me.*

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This one chapter was in development for almost 2 fracking years.

Goodness Gracious.

If you are waiting for another chapter for Ticket to Life,

you'll be disappointed to find out that until I finish this story... (Will only be 5 chapters long)

I won't work on the chapters for ToL.

Sorry, truly.

GreyLoki

P.S. Please leave a Review/Critique or PM to give me some feedback.


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